


Fair Grounds

by Novaviis



Series: Watercolour [6]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Awkward Dates, Carnival, Date gone wrong, Fluff, M/M, Summer Fair, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, dick is no better, honestly this is gross, shameless fluff, wally is a dork and cannot communicate properly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 02:54:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9414815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Novaviis/pseuds/Novaviis
Summary: When the Team decides to spend their night off at the Happy Harbour Annual Summer Fair, everyone seems to be excited but Wally. His strange behaviour as the evening goes on begins to grate on Dick's nerves. Why is he being so weird? It'll take a lot of cotton candy to get to the bottom of this.





	

**Author's Note:**

> *finger guns* atonement for Arctic

 

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Wally blanched, slowly lowering the poster that M’gann had shoved into his face. “A fair?”

“The Happy Harbour Annual Summer Fair!” the Martian squealed. “They were passing these out at school today. Conner and I passed the fairgrounds by the bay on our way home and it looks amazing! We should all go!”

Kaldur looked over the glossy print of the poster as M’gann handed it to him. “It does look like it would be fun,” he said. “It would be a good team bonding eve-“

Zatanna snatched the poster, dangling it in front of his face with a smile. “Kaldur, the whole point is that we don’t go as a _team_ , we just go as friends, like regular teenagers.”

“Won’t it be a bit obvious though? A group of teens who fit the basic descriptions of the junior league?” Conner asked, arms crossed as he leaned back against the kitchen counter.

Artemis came up beside him, resting her arm casually against his shoulder. “I think you might be underestimating how stupid people can be.”

“Besides, so what if they suspect anything?” M’gann chimed in. “You think they’re gonna ask?”

“Hint,” Artemis grinned. “We lie.”

“Hold on, back up, back up!” Wally burst. The team stopped, turning their attention to the red head with varying expressions of confusion and annoyance. “A fair?”

“That’s what she said, Baywatch,” Artemis rolled her eyes.

Wally threw her a halfhearted glare. “I _know_ but,” he stumbled over his words. “I just- I mean I don’t think it’s a good idea. Or- like you guys could go I guess, but – not as an “everyone” thing.”

Raquel elbowed him in the side. “What are you talking about?”

Feeling more and more like he was being pushed into a corner, Wally huffed. “Robin. I’m talking about Robin. I just don’t think this is… his kinda thing.”

“What’s not my kinda thing?”

Wally spun around, nearly tripping over his own feet. “Babe! Could you _please_ cut it out with the ninja thing?”

Dick shrugged, hands in the pocket of his sweater. “I’m not even sure I know how to stop at this point. Anyway, what were you talking about?”

Wally turned back to the team, trying to subtly shake his head, mouthing “don’t, don’t, don’t” over again.

His silent pleading went unheeded. M’gann picked up her poster and hovered over to the youngest member of the team. “We’re going to the Happy Harbour fair! You in?”

“A fair, huh?” Dick mused as he looked over the poster. “Sounds like a blast! I’m in.”

“Guess that settles that, then,” Raquel said with a side look at Wally. “We'll meet outside at six.”

The eight of them dispersed after that, scattering about the cave with buzzed excitement about their outing. Some of them had homework, last minute assignments to tie up, training to catch up on, generally just time to kill before going out. Call it motivation. Wally, however, had apparently nothing better to do than take his boyfriend by the arm and guide him into the quiet section of hallway leading from the living quarters to the centre of the cave. Dick frowned, but let himself be swept away, more curious than anything about why Wally was behaving this way.

Once alone, Wally cornered Dick against the wall, his hands on his shoulders and a sympathetic expression crossing his face. “You don't have to go, babe.”

Dick quirked a brow beneath his sunglasses. “What?”

“I'll make up some excuse, alright? You don't even have to say anything,” Wally smiled, like he was doing him a favour.

Dick leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. “And why would I want you to do that?”

Just like that, Wally's expression dropped, his eyes saying deer in head lights and his blush saying caught. “Well... I-I mean... I just thought-”

“You thought what?”

Wally let his arms drop, his hand coming up to rub the back of his neck. “I just thought... that you might be tired? You've had a lot of late shifts lately with Bats, right?”

“Yeah, and I've slept during the day because I'm off school. So,” Dick shrugged, “I'm all for the fair.”

Wally flinched. “You sure?”

“Unless _you_ have a problem with it?”

“No!” Wally blurted. “No, I don't have a problem at all. I mean, if you're going, I'm going.”

Dick smirked. “I thought you might say that.”

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Walking around the perimeter of Mount Justice, the team could already hear the distant hum of rides and games and thrilled voices. It was just about an hour before sunset, the sun low over the inlet. Long shadows stretched over the land, every tree like long fingers reaching out toward the ocean. Golden sunlight still dusted the sky, and though a refreshing breeze rolled off the water, the sun's heat threw a steamy haze. Eight ordinary teenagers rounded the base of the mountain, the forest opening up to the burst of activity that was the Happy Harbour Annual Summer Fair. Ordinary, of course, until one red head's excitement had her floating a few inches off the ground.

Conner was quick to grab onto M'gann's elbow, pulling her back down to earth. A scarlet blush crawled up her cheeks as her teammates laughed with her. They could hardly blame her. They'd missed the fair the past few years because of missions, but everything was quiet on the world saving front. To a Martian girl there was nothing more human than a low budget local fair.

Heading out toward the boardwalk, the buzz of the fair bubbled over onto the pavement, the parking lot, the beach just about everything in site. It seemed like half the town was decked out in posters and balloons and fairy lights. There was something completely corny about the whole thing. It was the best part. Zatanna was already hanging off of Artemis, excitedly pointing out everything that she could see lining the pier.

“They've got a drop tower!” she squealed. “We've got to go on that one.”

Artemis raised a brow down at her. “It's only like 20 feet.”

“So what? It'll still be fun!”

Shrugging, Artemis let her gaze sweep over the pier. “Fine, fine, but I want to play some of the shooting games.”

“I wanted to check out the Strong Man challenge,” Conner added.

Kaldur nodded. “If we all want to do seperate things, perhaps it would be best to split up for a while and then meet up again. Maybe after an hour, for something to eat?”

“Sounds good to me!” Zatanna was already trying to tug her girlfriend off into the fray. Kaldur, however, wasn't finished quite yet.

“Though I'm sure I don't have to remind you,” he began, “that we need to _lie low_. _”_

Conner frowned. “Why do I feel like this is being directed at me?”

“Because it is,” said Dick. Damn good thing Conner didn't have heat vision with the intensity of that glare.

Artemis rolled her eyes. “Okay, splitting up, meeting back for corndogs later. Can we go now?”

Kaldur sighed, but nodded nonetheless.

“Good,” said Raquel as she stepped toward Artemis and Zatanna, “because I can already tell that this is gonna become date night real fast,” she nodded to the three couples present, “and I'd rather third wheel with the girls than y'all. Wally's being a buzzkill. And you two,” Raquel gestured to M'gann and Conner, “you're just gonna play two games and then find a photo booth to go make out in.”

Conner and M'gann's red faced silence was confirmation enough. Dissolving into laughter, the other three girls departed, with Kaldur tagging along just to 'keep numbers even'. Soon enough, it was just Wally and Dick standing at the edge of the pier.

“Well,” Dick stuck his hands in his pockets, “looks like they're off to the arcade, and Conner and M'gann are probably looking for the nearest photo booth. Anywhere you want to go first?”

Wally cleared his throat. “That bench over there looks like fun.”

“Wally.”

“Nice and stationary.”

“Wally.”

“Great paint job too.”

Fed up, Dick grabbed Wally's hand and began tugging him, against resistance, toward the hub of the fair. “I didn't come out to sit on a bench all night. We can do that when we're 80. Come on, I want to go on the roller coaster.”

The roller coaster, of course, was a small expanse of track mostly comprised of hills. a single cork screw, and a loop. The cars were purple and shaped like a dragon's long body if that spoke anything to the quality. Still, Dick insisted that they ride it three times. Let it be said that Wallace Rudolph West was not afraid of roller coasters, not with all of the tremendous bullshit he'd seen in his young life. He was, however, tense the entire time, despite Dick's efforts to get him to loosen up and have fun every time they rejoined the line. Dick, despite his boyfriend's mood, was having a thrilling time, throwing his hands in the air and feeling the sea breeze whip over his face, eyes closed and soaking it all in. If there was one thing that worked to lighten Wally's disposition, it was that sight.

Wally wasn't entirely miserable, of course. Trading banter and subdued laughter with his boyfriend could never keep him sour for long. However, his eyes were constantly darting about, trying to be subtle in the way they searched out the crowds. Dick noticed, of course. He gave up on trying to get Wally to have fun after their third time on the roller coaster. Time to move onto something different then.

As they walked through the fairgrounds, Dick was entirely content to let his gaze roam, taking in every sight, sound and smell he could. It was entirely overwhelming, in the best way possible. Or at the very least that seemed to be the same for him. Wally's wandering gaze was more like a hawk's seeking out threat around every corner and behind every booth. His hand was an iron grip around Dick's, to the point that the younger boy felt the need to flex his hand in an attempt to free himself.

“Babe. Circulation. Kinda need it.”

Wally was quick to let go, looking down at Dick's white fingers and the red imprints of his hand around his. “Shit, sorry.”

Dick shook his hand out a few times before linking his arm with Wally's – a safer bet. “Wally.”

“Uh, yeah?”

“You're being weird.”

Wally forced a laugh, coming off too nervous. “Whaaatt? Me, weird?” What's weird, how am I being weird? No weirdness here at a-”

“Babe, you're being _really_ weird.”

Struggling to recover, Wally cleared his throat for the nth time. “I'm just... on the look out. Never know when some super powered lunatic is gonna come crash the party, right?”

Dick shrugged. “Well yeah, but that doesn't mean being on red alert 24/7. That's just reality, anything could happen at any time. Doesn't mean you should spend all your time worrying about it. Besides,” he said with a pointed look.,“I know that's not what you're being weird about.” Wally didn't respond. Averting his gaze, the ginger simply shrugged. Dick rolled his eyes. “Take a night off, will you? This _could_ be fun if you're just willing to give it a chance.”

Wally let out a long breath, trying to force himself not to be so uptight. Dick was right. He was worrying over nothing. He flashed a grin down at his boyfriend, forced but an attempt all the same. “Okay. Taking a night off.”

It sounded like a good plan anyway. They were ten steps ahead before a curve in the path put them right in front of a gang of Clowns. Assaulted with bright colours and squeaking horns, Wally jumped, one arm shooting out to push Dick behind him. The Clowns, of course, thought this was hilarious, and proceeded to cover them in confetti and silly string.

“Alright, alright, knock it off!” Wally snapped as he pushed the messy stuff off of him. Before anyone had a chance to respond, he was pulling Dick off to the side, out of sight. Brushing chunks of glitter off his shoulders, he shook his head and grumbled under his breath. Once out of the way and alone, he turned to Dick. “Are you okay?”

Still just a little stunned by the ordeal, Dick nodded slowly. “Yeah, I'm... fine. Are _you_ okay? You kind of freaked out.”

“I didn't freak out!” Wally defended himself. “I was just... reacting, I don't know. They jumped out of no where.”

Dick was silent for a long pause, his critical gaze making Wally wish his power had been invisibility. Dick crossed his arms over his chest. “You're not afraid of clowns.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Dick quirked his brow. “So, what's the deal?”

“No deal! There's – nothing, just.... are you sure you're okay?”

“This is getting old _really_ fast.”

Wally sighed, pushing his hand back through his hair. Thinking fast, he took Dick's hand, minding his grip, and began to tug him off back into the fair. He had to do a better job at faking was all. He could do that. “Come on, let's go see what the others are doing.”

Dick didn't buy Wally's sudden interest in the activities, but relented nonetheless. It was better than bickering in the dark space between booths.

They ended up finding Artemis, Raquel, Kaldur, and Zatanna at a water gun game, the four of them taking up half the chairs at the booth. Artemis was in a clear lead, though the game's theme seemed to be bringing out Kaldur's competitive side, as he gained height on the scale with a grin. With a loud ringing of the fire bell strung up to the top of the booth though, Artemis was declared the winner, and a blue whale plushie was added to Zatanna's growing pile. Kaldur was just flicking some of the residual water at Artemis when Dick and Wally approached.

Dick whistled low as he appraised Zatanna's prizes. “You gonna be able to carry all that?”

Zatanna sent Artemis a side glance, the corner of her mouth quirked up. “I was thinking about asking for a big plastic bag just to haul them along.”

Artemis responded only with finger guns and a tongue click from the other end of the booth.

Dick's attention shot over to her. “Think you're hot stuff? Ring toss, you and me.”

Artemis slid off her seat. “You're on.”

The man working the ring toss booth was hardly phased or interested when a group of six teenagers ambled over to his station. With hardly a second look, he gave the blonde girl and the short kid their rings and stepped aside. What he was not expecting was a viscous ninja battle to break out. These kids were insane. There wasn't a bottle they _didn't_ hit, to the point that as they threw them, they were knocking each others rings out of the air. The other two girls cheered them on with increasing zeal, while the dark skinned teenager watched on with a look of mild annoyance and resignation. The ginger just looked – distracted. In any case, after three games ending in ties, the fourth came out with the scrawny black haired teen as the victor. “Uh....” the worker stammered as he pointed to the wall of prizes. “Which one?”

Dick walked away from the game with a smug grin and a palm sized red fox plushie tucked under his arm. Stepping in front of Wally, he held it out with a flourish and tossed it to his boyfriend. “Reminded me of you when you knew how to have fun.”

Wally caught the plushie in one, rolling his eyes. “Hardee-har-har.”

“Gotta admit, it's kind of cute though,” Dick grinned.

Wally looked down at the little fox disdainfully. “...shit, you're right.”

A deafening clamor from their left drew the team's attention to the Strong Man challenge, where Conner stood, mallet in hand, staring at the broken hand with an open mouth. If Kaldur wasn't regretting this before, he certainly was now. Thankfully, the game operator was seemingly in shock, giving Conner and M'gann the opportunity to slip away with a few mumbled apologies.

“Lying low?” Kaldur sighed when the other two had caught up.

“... I just tapped it,” Conner grumbled under his breath.

For the sake of their leader's blood pressure, the eight of them continued on to get something to eat, a more conspicuous activity to draw attention away from them. There was a food tent on the furthest end of the pier, serving hot dogs, burgers, pop, and funnel cake just to name a few. The team, once they'd gotten their meals, took their food to the edge of the pier, sitting up on weathered wooden rails that creaked under their weight. Legs danging over the open drop to the waves gently lapping at the pillars below, they ate and laughed and jabbed at each other, instigating a wrestling contest between Artemis and Raquel to see who could throw the other into the water. Neither succeeded before M'gann subtly gave them both a telepathic nudge over the edge. Not before, of course, making their phones conveniently slip out of their pockets and onto the dry dock – she wasn't cruel.

At this point of the evening, even Wally began to ease up, much to Dick's relief. If there was one thing that could lift his disposition, it was food. By no fault of Wally's – a speedster's metabolism wasn't something to joke about when he was running low. He liked to think that it wasn't just the food though, but rather the carefree atmosphere the rest of them had been enjoying all night. It wasn't like Wally to be so uptight on an evening they were meant to let loose. However, the thought soon faded fro Dick's mind in favour of taking group selfies on Raquel's and Artemis' phones while the two of them swam up to the beach, shouting curses the entire way.

During it all, people saw them. Obviously, they were visible, but it was more than that. In passing, people _saw_ them, eight teenagers sitting in a row, remarkably familiar. And no one asked. No one bothered them. It was clear maybe for the first time, to those who suspected as they walked by, that the teens might not be what they appeared, but it didn't matter. It was their night off. The quiet solidarity spoke volumes.

Wet foot steps slapped against the wood boards of the pier as a sopping Artemis and Raquel raced up to their friends. “Did you guys see what they're setting up on the beach?” Artemis panted with a grin. She began to ring her hair out on her girlfriend, laughing with Zatanna's shrieking.

“No, what is it?” Kaldur asked.

“Some kind of performance,” said Raquel. “There's a stage, and trapeze swings, and people are setting up beach towels in a circle around it. Looks like a circus!”

And in that second, Wally was off the rail. Grabbing onto Dick's hand, he gave him a gentle tug toward the dry dock. “Come on, we don't have to do this,” he whispered.

Dick frowned down at Wally, and swung his legs over the other side of the rail as he snatched his hand back. “Why wouldn't-” It dawned on him then. Wally's behaviour the entire night, his odd protectiveness over Dick, his hovering and constant look out. Dick sighed and turned to his friends. “You guys go on ahead, we'll catch up.”

Without a complaint from the team, aside form a few side glances and shrugs between themselves, the other six headed toward the pier stairs and the beach below. The moment they were gone, Wally had his hands on Dick's shoulders, just like back in the cave. His gaze were earnest and his hands were light, thumbs stroking along Dick's collar bone. It would have been so sweet if Dick weren't so annoyed. Wally lowered his voice. “Babe, it's _fine_. You don't have to put up this front anymore, alright?”

Dick didn't respond for a while, and he could see that the longer he kept his silence, the more nervous Wally became. Crossing his arms over his chest, he raised his brow and let his attention drift from Wally to the fair beyond them. “I want cotton candy.”

“We can just go and-.... wait, what?”

“I want cotton candy,” Dick repeated. “I want to get cotton candy and ride the ferris wheel with my boyfriend. Unless he has some marvelous reason I shouldn't want to do that?”

Wally, once again, flustered for a response. “I-I uh-”

[“Good.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbYgIxYdSrA)

The line at the cotton candy cart wasn't all that long, and with the excitement spilling out onto the beach, neither was the wait to get on the ferris wheel. So, with few other words exchanged between the two of them, they boarded their seat and were, within minutes, rising up over Happy Harbour. Couldn't have picked a better time, really. The sun was a drop of gold on the horizon, vibrant violets and lilacs set on fire as the colours bled into the sky. The heat of the day was just beginning to cool down with ever gentle sea breeze. As they were lifted up, Dick closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, feeling the salt of the ocean clear his airways. Wally, fidgeting next to him, wasn't nearly so calm.

“Wally.”

The speedster jumped, causing their seat to swing. “Uh, yeah?”

Dick ripped off a piece of his cotton candy, letting the blue and pink sugar dissolve on his tongue. “You didn't want me to come tonight, did you?”

A scarlet blush slowly began to crawl up Wally's freckled skin. “Um.... well-”

“Babe, I'm not stupid. The clowns were obvious enough. You thought they'd freak me out because of the Joker. And everything else.... you thought it would remind me of Haley's Circus.”

Caught. Wally sighed, the knowledge lifting a tremendous weight off his shoulders. He slumped forward, watching his shoe laces dangle in the open air. “I was afraid it might upset you, being around something so familiar after... you know,” he muttered. “I just didn't want you to feel pressured into coming if it was only going to bring back bad memories.”

Dick listened, his expression softening from annoyance to – he wasn't sure, but something a little more tender. Letting out a slow breath, Dick slipped his sunglasses off and shoved them into his pocket. “Can I tell you something?”

Wally, entranced for a moment by the way the pastel dusk melted in Dick's pale eyes, only managed a nod.

“It does remind me of Haley's,” Dick began. “A fair isn't the same as the circus but they're not so different. The atmosphere, is the same, you know? The food, the sounds, the smells, the bright colours, that... electricity in the air... everyone's having fun, and it's contagious. So yeah, it brings back a lot of memories, but Wally,” Dick turned to his boyfriend with a smile, “that's why I love being here. Yeah, some – bad things happened to me at the Circus, but that doesn't outweigh the good stuff. And there was a _lot_ more of that.” Reaching across the seat, Dick laced their fingers together and shifted a little closer, shoulder to shoulder, his head resting against his Wally's. “Same reason I'm not afraid of heights.”

They were breaching the top of the wheel now. From this height they could see the entire expand of shoreline stretching on around Mount Justice, the fair grounds below, and dozens of little campfires lining the beach as everyone got set up to watch the show. The buzz of activity dulled at this distance to a white noise, and for a moment, Wally was afraid that he'd left his voice down there with the rest of the sound. It took a moment or two of just trying to breathe through the force of his affection to find it again. “I... didn't think of it like that.”

“I know,” Dick replied. “But it's fine.”

Wally leaned against the back of the seat, throwing a leisurely arm around his boyfriend to pull him closer. Finally, he took a bite from his own cotton candy. “Guess I've got a botched evening to make up for, huh?”

Dick shrugged. “The fair's here for another few nights. We've got time.”

“Good. Then we're going back on that roller coaster at least like ten more times. And the drop tower. I'm gonna have to kick your ass at skee ball, too.”

“I knew you were holding out on me.”

When the two of them met up with the rest of the team, it was clear that a change had come over Wally. The boy had spent the entire afternoon stiff and uptight, and had come off that ferris wheel with his face stuffed full of cotton candy (a picture that Dick very gladly set as his contact photo for him). He even made a quick run back to the Cave to fetch them some beach towels to sit on, a trip that _would_ have only taken about a minute if Kaldur hadn't been so insistent on him waiting until he was deep into the trees before he even used half his speed.

The show began as soon as the sun had set, cheap spotlights flashing in every direction as the acts made the audience gasp and laugh. Spread out onto three towels, the eight of them, for an evening, melded seamlessly in with the crowd surrounding them. Mantels were put aside. Traumas forgotten.

Dick sat between Wally's stretched out legs, leaning back against his chest while Wally's arms circled his waist, chin resting on Dick's shoulder. When the acrobats came on, Dick reached down and squeezed Wally's hand. Wally squeezed back. They had a net.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This work takes place after Kenopsia and before Blanket Fort.
> 
> Reviews are appreciated!


End file.
